World Tournament Preliminaries Team 4
Both participants looked at the entrance to the maze, only to see five knights in armor made out of diamond. Their swords were also diamond. Before the preliminaries, both participants were told not to use any abilities until they reach their opponents. The five knights looked strong enough as not to underestimate them. Out of a sudden, one knight spoke and said in the most girlish and conceded voice ever, "You can't pass through here, you've lost." A blank look emanated from the facial expressions of the Samurai woman, condescendingly staring at the feminine-voiced knight that stood in her way. Part of her simply wanted to cut her in half, but rules were rules, and she would have to do without her blades. The elegant woman shifted her gaze to her ally for the time being, whose surname alluded that he was a Nara Clan member, the noble Konohagakure clan that garnered prominence as a result of their unique shadow manipulation and unrivalled intelligence. Solving enigmas such as these were his clan's specialty, and thus Seitei turned to him for aid. "What do you think?" asked the elegant Futsunushi as her eyes looked at the diamond-structured warriors, her guard up for any clues or...surprises. "Are they actually in our way? Is this some pop-quiz or a mirage?" "They're real," Shikaniku Nara—a Jonin of Konohagakure and the current head of Root—confidently answered. His eyes fell upon the dazzling knights apathetic to all except them; he was focused. "It wouldn't make sense for them not to be real." Shikaniku folded his arms across his chest as he continued. "The tournament said we're not allowed to use our abilities: ninjutsu, genjutsu, and some form of taijutsu, or just anything that uses chakra. To combat genjutsu we need chakra, that in-itself is a fact. Therefore, we can eliminate that from the equation." His appearance did not betray his emotions. Lost in thought, his hand tickled his chin. "But, on second thought. We were told not to use our abilities until we reach our opponents. The question is, would we consider these soldiers our opponents?" A small smile crept upon the noble woman's lips, his eyes darting to his temporary ally. Amicably, she uttered, "I like the way you think, Nara Shikaniku. I suppose they are our opponents if they intend to fight us and/or stand in our way. But, let us leave that to them." Seitei slowly approached the burly diamond-clad warrior, her small smile fading and replaced by a threatening look as she bravely stood before the being in her way. "May I ask why we lost? Or better yet, why is my path blocked by a woman who can't even show her face? Are you that ugly?" She bluntly rhetorted, aiming to provoke the masked feminine-sounding warrior into violently replying. Furthermore, Seitei spoke in the same tone that the warrior used to add fuel to the flame that she had already brewed. Even Seitei's facial expressions were condescending, sending subliminal hints towards it. "Ugly? Girl, have you seen the mirror lately, cause you're much uglier than me. You lost because of..." The knight stopped as two other knights jumped over her and aimed a direct blow to Seitei. They're attack was also done quickly. Regardless of their attack, the two warriors' were nothing to what the woman before them had been through. Through honing her mental awereness as well as the interval, she was fully capable of unleashing and dealing with blows multiple times faster. Multiple people before have even mistaken her reflexes in tandem with her speed to be the manipulation of the space-time continuum on more than one occasion. Blade clung on blade as their two attacks only managed to hit each other, Seitei, on the other hand, retreated back to her teammate. "Well. They did try to attack us, so that answers that..." she addressed the Nara. She still was uncertain on whether she should simply cut them all or plan a quick retreat, so the elegant samurai took slow breaths to analyze the situation, before turning to Shikaniku once more. Every single action was crucial to determine their victory or their defeat, and thus she could not take uncalculated risks. "What plan of action should we take?" Shikaniku stared blankly at the soldiers. "That was....a really poorly coordinated attack." He was almost disappointed, yet his mind was in motion. His tongue materialized his thoughts, "Yet, they could be puppets being manipulated. In that case, that could mean that we haven't truly encountered our opponents yet. Which means, don't strike until we can confirm that they aren't puppets." Shikaniku took a few steps backwards away from Seitei, allowing her to remain as the lead. "You dodge some stuff, and I'll observe from here to determine whether or not they're puppets or not. Deal?" The noble woman growled at the remarks of her acquaintance. As a samurai, she stood firm with her principles. Her soul itself was the embodiment of delicacy. The mere thought that her fellow partner was able to stoop so low without the slightest of hesitation was, all in all, despicable. "A gentlemen would say, ladies first. But, those are not your intentions, are they." she remarked, not even looking at him. Her eyes darted and focused towards the five warriors, still on guard to any nasty surprises they may release. She was well aware of what they were capable of, and was quite certain that she could easily make them dance without them laying a single finger. But, what she could not fanthom was the very fact that Nara Shikaniku, a member of such a respected clan in Konoha, was able to make such a suggestion. "Sometimes I have difficulty trying to comprehend the soul of a shinobi. I still cannot fathom how you would dare use me as bait, put me in the frontlines to entertain the little things and make me use up more of my stamina, whilst at the same time, you attempt to study my own skills and battle style in case we are to meet in the frontlines." she addressed his teammate in a sharp tone, as she walked with grace towards the diamond-clad warriors. "But, regardless..." she did not even bother finishing her sentence, swiftly moving behind the two knights embraced with a near-indestructible structure, her arms folded whilst her feet spread slightly, ready to move on impulse should they attempt anything. The woman knight laughed and said, "So, if you underestimate us, it would only lead to your downfall. Now then, the four of you, show them the power of the diamond knights." The other four knights pointed their sword in the air and one knight's sword turned invisible, but surrounded by wind, another one turned liquid like, another one turned into a rock-like sword, and finally, the other one became a sword of fire. By applying their own chakra to their blades, a large beam of wind, water, earth and fire came out of their swords and headed quickly straight for Shikaniku. Meanwhile, the other woman knight appeared where the samurai woman was, attempting to strike her head on. Shikaniku could do nothing but smirk, as his body dissipated into a stream of shadows. Cooperation was a ninja's greatest asset, yet one mistake could destroy the foundation that the teamwork was built upon. His shadowy-flesh danced around the wave of elements, and once the horror had passed, he reformed. "If you're going to try and confuse us, please don't use four elements simultaneously; it's impossible for a single shinobi to use four elements at the same time," the Nara gave the four knights a pointed look, before turning to face his comrade. "That means, they're all yours, sweetie." A single sidestep was all it took to evade the knight's attack, whilst —at the same time— she took a few steps away in order to garner some distance before initiating her next move. Upon receiving the go-ahead, Seitei was filled with glee. Regardless, her facial expressions did not dare betray her and thus she remained aloof. Within what may be argued to be an instant, the elegant Futsunushi had Iaidō his light blade —channelling into it her inner energy into it— and sending a massive slash into the knight before her. Perhaps only those blessed with special eyes were able to fathom the speed of her attack, save for those well-trained in perception such as herself. But, alas, she did not have time to savour her moment, as she had promptly assaulted her targets, quickly attempting to take down her targets within the time frame of mere seconds. Four of the knights were defeated by Seitei's attacks, but the woman knight still remained standing. Her armor was able to protect her from the attack, but she was still damaged. It was then that a man came out from behind her and sliced her in two. The man was also wearing the same armor, but his face was shown. He was blonde and had freckles around his face. When he smiled, his teeth glowed brightly. The man sighed and said, "I am King Chakrono, king of the island below us and king of this maze. I am here to inform you that you have lost the preliminaries you took part in. The reason? You have used your abilities against non-opponents. You never thought of the possibility of five puppet masters? No matter, you have lost due to using your abilities. Do you have any objections to what I have just said to you?" Shikaniku retorted quickly, "Actually, I did. It's impossible for there to be five puppet masters." He gave the man a pointed look; "It's because of how well they worked together. In fact, it's nearly impossible for that kind of simultaneous cooperation between puppet masters due to the lag that occurs between a puppet master and their puppet. If you inspect it carefully, the puppet master does an action, yet it takes time for the puppet to respond. The fact that each attack happened simultaneously proves this thesis; the timing would have been slightly off, even for the greatest master. Reflexes, quickness, and skill would affect when the puppets responded. A millisecond too late would result in a drastically longer action thanks to the lag," Shikaniku looked at the puppet that was just sliced in half. "I have more reasons to doubt your claim, King Chakrono.." "Yes, that may be true. In fact, they were never puppets to begin with. These were real people, but you still attacked them. These were not your opponents that were assigned to you. The opponents are in the other side of this maze, they were not these five. The challenges each participant faced were each random, so it was not selected. These were never your opponents, and you used your abilities. Now then, any objections before I officially disqualify you?" King Chakrono asked in a serious tone. The constant arguing had begun to annoy Seitei, though she kept her composure. Slowly, the young maiden approached the King. Her facial expression slightly began to unravel, displaying her anger. It was no doubt that she was quite like a paper bomb with a lit fuse, ready to explode. However, as her continuity depended upon the person before them, she had to remain composed and bottle her annoyance. With the voice of an angel, she spoke, "You majesty, unless you are illiterate, you will have to admit that these people were infact our opponents." her facial expression began to lighten up, "An opponent is defined as someone or something that opposes in an event such as a brawl or even a race. These puppets or people had attacked the two of us without provocation, hence they opposed us from our destination, thus making them our opponents." said the beautiful maiden, still harbouring a small smile. Shikaniku folded his arms and scowled. "It's not our faults that your instructions suck, but I guess that we can't blame you entirely. You didn't expect us to be this smart, I assume." "Hmph, alright then, I guess you pass. You may go on, but beware, your opponents are not ones to be underestimated." The king said. And with that, he left.